Is Android Fragmentation As Big As They Say?

One of the great advantages of Android is its versatility and flexibility. Several manufacturers have adopted it and, thanks to that, we have devices for all tastes, pockets and peculiarities. Be it Samsung, LG, Motorola, ASUS, Blu, Xioami, Sony, Marshall, etc.

Among the characteristics of the devices we can choose: a large or small screen, a lot of RAM, a waterproof device (at least in theory), with a removable battery or not, etc.

On the other hand, platform fragmentation is the biggest headache for developers. Working with a huge range of different devices, screen sizes and specifications is a huge challenge.

But have you ever stopped to think, in numbers, of how many devices we are talking about?! The OpenSignal application team made a report showing the diversity of devices that have already downloaded it. The results are surprising.

The app has been downloaded more than 10 million from time to time 24,093 different devices. It's no surprise that the dominant brand on the market with the most handsets is Samsung, which holds 37,8% of the Android market.

The fragmentation of brands is not the only challenge for developers, the various versions of the operating system show that the operating system itself is quite fragmented. From the graphics we can see Android 4.4 Kit Kat dominates the devices, with 39,3% of the devices.

On the website where the report was published, there is also data on different screen sizes, and use of sensors on devices over the years, such as the proliferation of new brands and comparative data from 2012 to 2014, which you can check it here, or download the report pdf.

Finally, this chart shows the dominant brands in each country:

Did you imagine that Android was so fragmented?